One man has made a real life laser shotgun - and it's terrifying

"Damn, that's a cool gun", said every gamer ever upon their first encounter with a laser weapon. 

Whether it was Dead Space's plasma cutter or Metroid's power beam, guns that shoot pure energy are innately more terrifying than their projectile-based counterparts; that lack of "BANG", the lethal accuracy, the distinct lack of bullet holes. How can light do that?

One person to ask is YouTube project builder styropyro - a man with a disconcerting obsession with laser-based weapons (we hesitate to call them "toys"). 

Using entirely legal diode arrays and lithium batteries, his latest creation is a 40 watt laser shotgun/rifle/beam weapon. 

We're pretty sure this is how supervillains get started...